Harry and Anya: The Beginning
by A Darker Path
Summary: Twinfic, Slyth/darkish/superharry. What if Harry hadn't grown up alone, what if he had a twin sister to share his battles with? they, together against the world. Slight incest, read it before you judge, reviews appreciated, flames used to burn meat.
1. Chapter 1: The Begining

Disclaimer: yeah yeah, it ain't mine, it's JKR's yada yada yada.

A.N: "speech" '_thought_' (simple bracketed drivel) (**the Author's doubtlessly unnecessary but incredibly amusing notes**)

**Harry and Anya: The Beginning**

Chapter One: the smallest change

Life is a precious thing. Human life, created by the joining of two people and is thought the highest form of known existence. Many believe the creation of new life to be a magical thing, but very few know... That this is in fact the truth.

Man has always pondered on his existence, his destiny, his fate. Is there a God? Why am I here? Is my life a part of some grand plan of higher beings'? Well, I'll tell you.

To begin with, you have to know that no human has ever quite got it right, no single religion is any more correct than any others. The 'Gods' as they are called, were responsible for our creation, they controlled the fate of our existence. They are infinite, all powerful, and eternal. However, they are not allies. An infinite amount of all powerful beings, warring, fighting amongst themselves for control, and in their battles, they proved not that they are infallible, but the opposite.

You see, they had a plan, a plan for life, for the course of existence. But they failed. life deviated from the set design, it began with a simple change, unaccounted for, unnoticed by the 'Gods', busy in their conflicts. But to understand this story, you must forget what you 'know'. Magic is real, Dragons, vampires, unicorns and wizards all existing in a world hidden, forgotten, beneath your own, the most dominant form of magical life being wizardkind.

Every 2000 years to the day, wizardkind is used as a conduit for the 'Gods' power. To continue to exist, to control our world, they must exert direct contact every so often. Why they chose Wizardkind may never be known, but nonetheless every 2000 years, a child is born, a child whom possesses more magical power than any other, but will remain ignorant of it's true scale, purpose or origin. The last such child, like almost all before it, harnessed a portion of that power for it's own purposes.

The last child, was he who with time came to be known as Merlin. And then, as another was due to be conceived, the Gods, distracted as they were by their battles, did not account for one tiny detail, it was not one, but two lives created by the human, wizard coupling meant to produce the next child. This one detail saw to the end of the Gods' influence on our fate.

Nine months later, Harry and Anya Potter were born, healthy, strong and screaming into this world. and the 'power' of the Gods' was loosed upon the world, without the shackles of the Gods' pre-laid plans, shattered by the addition of one unplanned life. And the story I will tell you is not about the Gods, and their struggle to cling on to lost power, no, I am going to tell you the story of the child, and his unforeseen twin sister...

**********H&A**********

"Easy Lils, easy" James Potter chided his wife gently as she excitedly strode from the fire place of their home, having floo'd from Saint Mungo's hospital for magical maladies and injuries.

Lily merely rolled her eyes at her goofy husband, '_how patient would he be? really_' she thought impatiently. Lily had only just been released from hospital due to complications involving the 34 hour labor of her twin son and daughter, including some pretty severe blood loss, but they had been perfectly healthy, and she had not seen them since they left the hospital with their father the previous evening.

"Where are they?" she demanded of him, he merely smiled his new 'I'm-the-luckiest-man-alive' smile and stared at the ceiling, she took this to mean 'upstairs' and took of like a rogue bludger (**albeit a quiet one**).

Bolting up the stairs, husband hot on her heals, she burst (**softly**) into the room they had spent two months preparing for the incoming infants, upon her entrance she approached the pink crib set aside for their daughter at a more sedate pace. As she peered into the crib she saw... an empty bed. Annoyed she turned to glare at James, only to stop and stare, he was kneeling next to the other crib, resting his arms and chin on the rail, looking in with a face of pure, tearful joy.

Crossing to the opposing side of the crib, she copied her husbands pose and looked upon her children asleep in their home, for the first time.

Two tiny little people, with flush pink skin and shocks of jet-black hair lay sleeping together, Anya lay half on her and side and half on her front, unusual for a baby, the arm closer to the mattress held close to her baby-grow clad chest, the other draped across Harry's torso, who lay flat on his back, both arms embracing his younger (by 4 hours) sister, their legs tangled together, as though to anchor them to each other. Lily had never seen anything so beautiful in her entire life.

Sensing movement, she looked up to see James reaching across to grasp at her hand, squeezing lightly, they shared a loving smile, before returning their gazes to their newborn babies.

**********H&A**********

When they left the babies' room (two and a half hours later) the first thing they did was owl everyone they could think of who might not know about the twin's birth, and as they sent off the last owl (Minerva McGonagal) lily turned to James.

"why are they both in Harry's crib? I told you, as cute as it might look, I'd rather they slept separately" she chided him gently.

James opened his mouth to respond "hey, don't-"

"we tried Firecracker, really, we did... Honest" came from the direction of the floo.

turning, Lily and James spotted Sirius Black casually strolling in from the front room.

"Sirius! How many times have I told you? Don't call me-" Lily started in on Sirius.

"Well, setting that age old argument aside, he's right, we did try to put them down in their own cribs, but they weren't having it" Remus Lupin calmly interrupted, following in behind Sirius, smiling in that serene fashion of his.

"Oh hello Remus" Lily said in an entirely different tone "what do you mean you tried?" she finished enquiringly.

"I mean exactly that" he told her quietly, taking a seat at the dining table and summoning four butterbeers "we tried to set them down, but any time we tried to separate them by more than a foot, Anya decided to start screaming bloody murder, and Harry managed to glare at us, they even managed to levitate their cribs three feet of the ground, though we can't figure if that was Harry or Anya, or both" he explained, handing Sirius his butterbeer.

"damn cool it was!" Sirius added his sickles worth sagely "right pair of Gryffindors they are, stubborn as mules, the both of 'em" he called out proudly.

Lily turned to James in disbelief, to which he seemed to agree with Sirius' sentiment, smirking smugly, as if he'd taught them everything they knew. Giving it up as a lost battle, she looked expectantly at the werewolf, quirking one brow in a danger sign of impatience.

"yes, yes, I tried to explain it to these two heathens, but I may as well have been talking to the wall" he agreed quickly, fearing Lily's wrath.

"Explain what?" James cried.

"What? This is great this is!" Sirius barked.

"Urgh! Fine! listen up you ingrates, magic at that age is supposedly dangerous for babies!" Lily whispered harshly " not even professor Dumbledore could do magic, even accidental magic before the age of five, the magical core isn't strong _or _stable enough!"

James of course, immediately accepted that his wife knew better than he and began to worry for his children, Sirius on the other hand, Stubborn Gryffindor that he was, refused to give up on his pride for the newborns.

"what? they're gonna be more powerful than Dumbles himself? Yeah!" he ranted energetically.

"No you idiot, it means that it might damage the early development of the magical core" Remus broke in, mainly to stop Lily from verbally thrashing Sirius (yet again), turning back to the Potters he continued "I'd personally advise getting a minor block placed, but you might want to consult a professional about it, Poppy should know the best course of action"

"yeah! she'll know what to do, she's right smart Poppy!" James cheered "I'll go floo her" he finished, standing from his own half-drunken butterbeer.

"No James" Lily stopped him, he froze halfway up "I'll do it, I know Poppy better than you" she told him, Lily had apprenticed under Poppy Pomfrey in the hospital wing during her seventh year at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

As Lily stood up to head to the floo, James sat back down and guzzled the rest of his butterbeer, summoning another straight after.

"Hey, where's Wormtail? He can't not know, I left him a message with his landlord, and sent him an owl" he questioned Remus, but Sirius butt in before the lycanthrope could even open his mouth.

" Yeah, he knows" he put in grumpily "cheeky sod told me he was busy tonight and he'd come 'round tomorrow. Lousy git, what could possibly be more important than the birth of the newest Marauders?" he asked the room at large.

"Busy?" James wondered incredulously "busy with what?" He finished.

"Dunno, didn't ask, I didn't really care" Sirius spat dismissively, having never really cared for the talentless Peter Pettigrew all that much.

"I'm sure he has his reason's, you'll just have to ask him tomorrow" Remus put in diplomatically, once again falling into his pity for Peter that brought Wormtail into the fold to start with, eleven years before.

"Oh come on Moony, why do you always stick up for him? He hasn't even been with us on the full moons for four months!" Sirius demanded hotly, James nodding along in passive agreement.

Just as Remus began to reply, Lily returned from her floo call.

"Ok, she says she'll be over to take some diagnostics at eight, and she enthusiastically congratulates us for the thousandth time" she told them amusedly.

"Huh, yeah, who would have thought that the infamous Poppy Pomfrey's weakness would be babies? She's practically a kitten now" James chuckled humorously.

Joining them at the table, Lily beamed lovingly at James, smiled sweetly to Remus, and scowled lightly at Sirius.

"So, fella's, we wanted to talk to you about something very serious" James started solemnly, neither marauder buying it for a second of course.

"Yes, we did" Lily continued from her husband "we originally wanted Peter to be here as well, but seeing as he decided he had better things to do, the two of you will just have to do"

At Lily's statement, the grim and werewolf became curious, leaning forward in their seats expectantly.

"We wanted to talk to you about..." James trailed of, trying to build suspense, only to receive a kick under the table from his wife, and two distinctly unsympathetic gazes from his supposed best freinds.

"Godfather duties" Lily deadpanned, as James nursed his shin and pouted.

Both marauders froze, staring of into space, momentarily dumbstruck, before exchanging one brief look, and as Sirius opened his trap to respond siriusly (**pun shamelessly intended**) Remus beat him to the punch.

"Dibs on Anya!" he wailed excitedly.

"What? No fair! i wanted to pick!" Sirius cried petulantly, turning to James for support.

"Oh no, don't look at me, he called it, fair and cubed" he grinned back.

"Square James, fair and _square" _Lily corrected absently, summoning several sheets of official looking documents from somewhere and placing them before the still arguing shape shifters "here, read and sign these, there's a ceremony to do later, but this will take care of the legal aspects straight away" Lily commanded firmly, ever practical as she was.

Argument forgotten, Sirius immediately began scribbling away madly, as though the parchment may catch fire any second. Remus, though no less enthusiastic, began to casually read through it, earning an approving nod from James, aspiring young politician as he was.

"Have you picked out Godmothers yet?" He inquired, genuinely curious as to his counterpart in the ceremony.

"Yes, we picked one each, and flipped a coin to decide who got who" James informed him, as Sirius was still writing frantically "I picked my cousin Alice Longbottom nee Bones, and she's with Padfoot and Harry" he carried on.

"And I chose Andromeda Tonks, who's with you Remus" Lily finished, accepting the calmly finished documents and adding her own signiture at various spots before passing it on to James to do the same.

Sirius finally finished his mad quill scratching and looked up, seemingly completely unaware of the previous conversation.

"Haha! done, Now I am the proud Godfather of Harry James Potter! and did you see how fast i filled in that-" he broke off, spotting Remus' neatly signed and folded documents "wha-what? how did you- oh whatever" he whined, slapping his parchment into James' hand petulantly.

Smiling happily at Sirius' mood swings, the Potters turned back to Lupin.

"So, Moony, a little birdie told me that you had a _date _a few days ago?" James interrogated Remus, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh yeah... That... I wouldn't read to much into that, she found out about my _furry little problem_ a few hours before the date, called it off" Remus put in blithely, seemingly unperturbed.

"Oh Moony, well, you know that if she couldn't see past that then she wasn't worthy of you" Lily told him consolingly, placing a hand on his, having been quite _close_ to him in their fourth year, much to James' annoyance at the time.

"I know" Remus smiled gratefully "besides, this topic easily takes precedence. So, remind me who this Andromeda woman is?"

"The one with the seven year old girl in love with you" Padfoot threw out, enjoying Remus' discomfort.

"Oh yes, the Tonks', how could I forget" blushing lightly at the reminder of his encounters with the crushing seven year old Nymphadora Tonks.

Before the other Marauders could needle Remus further, the floo activated with a whoosh of green fire. Before anyone could get up to investigate, Poppy Pomfrey rushed excitedly into the room.

"Poppy!" Lily cried happily, hurrying to hug the ecstatic women "I thought you said eight?"

"I did" She returned the embrace warmly "but I just had to see them! I asked Filius to cover for me, and Albus will cover him" She explained rapidly "so, where are precious little things?"

"Right this way my rabid healer" James informed her, eager to know his children were fine.

Poppy was so excited that she either didn't notice, or care about James' 'slip' in addressing her, she simply followed eagerly.

Upon entering the Babies' room, the entire group surounded the crib in adoration. It quickly became apparent that Poppy had fallen in love at first sight, cooing lovingly at the dozing babes. The entire group simply stared at the beautiful creatures, until Lily, the practical one as always, snapped out of her daze and turned to the healer.

"Poppy?" She gently nudged "scans?"

The group laughed quietly as Poppy shook herself and became the efficient healer that she was "oh yes, right. Erm... what is it you want me to check?" she asked professionally, straightening to a standing position and drawing her wand.

Lily turned to James to explain their concerns "well, they managed to perform some accidental magic last night when we tried to separate them for bed, and we just want you to check on their cores, maybe place blocks if they need them?" James requested, completely trusting the opinion of the woman who'd patched him up countless times in school.

Poppy became concerned at the mention of infantile magic, and quickly cast a core diagnostic on Anya, gasping along with Lily at the results. A bright pulsing sphere of illusionary magic hovered over the child, glowing strongly of Silvery whites and blues, the men looking up in curiosity and mild worry at their reactions.

"That's impossible..." Poppy whispered in awe.

"apparently not" Lily answered, equally softly "maybe we should floo the Headmaster..." she trailed off, dumbstruck.

"What? What is it? Please explain it to those of who aren't qualified healers" James demanded worriedly, clenching his his hands nervously, Remus and Sirius grunting their approval.

"This scan shows the core of the average five year old..." Lily explained breathlessly "even the Headmaster's core would have been barely detectable at this age" she finished, Poppy still to stunned for words.

"Do Harry" Remus requested on a hunch, poking Poppy when she was unresponsive.

"oh! yes, yes of course" Poppy gushed, canceling the charm and reapplying it on Harry, nearly fainting dead away from shock before catching herself. Another, similar sphere of glowing energy appearing over the babe, easily twice the size of the previous one, pulsing an ethereal green and gold, leaving no doubt as to the more powerful baby.

"So... if Anya's was the average five year old... what about that?" Remus questioned, the implication making his widen comically.

"A first year at the welcoming feast" Poppy informed them, having regained her composure "and he'll likely be as powerful as any one of us at _his_ welcoming feast." she finished, deadly serious.

"Hey, check for one of them nifty twin bond thingies" Sirius contributed, articulate as always.

Poppy complied, and furrowed her brow at the feeling provoked "Hmmm... Strange, this feels like soul magic..." she mumbled, apparently to herself.

"yeah, so?" James queried "what does that mean?"

"Well, the typical magical twin bond is mental in nature, and soul magic implies something much deeper... And I can't make heads or tails of it"she explained absently "Remus, floo Albus, he knows much more about soul magic than I"

"Right" he complied, rushing from the room, stumbling down the stairs in his haste to reach the fire place.

**********H&A**********

Professor Albus Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, High Mugwump of the ICW and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the most prestigious magic academy in the world, sat serenely behind his desk, sucking away on a newly discovered weakness of his, muggle lemon drops. He was currently fulfilling paperwork relating to the school, dutifully focusing his extensive intellect on the students of his proud school. He had cleared his busy war-time schedule in order to catch up on what he considered his primary responsibilities, and as such, he was slightly surprised to see his fireplace flare up, indicating an active floo connection. Fearing an imminent emergency, he seized his wand and rushed to answer the incoming call.

Upon seeing Remus Lupin's anxious face, a valued member of the Order of the Phoenix floating in the flames, he began to worry slightly "Remus? What is it? Was there an attack? Do you need aid?" he rattled off quickly, preparing to rush of to assist.

"wha-attack? no, no, no!" Remus fired off, slightly allaying the Headmaster's fears "Erm... er listen, I'm at the Potter's, and you might be aware that Madam Pomfrey came through to see the twins?" Albus nodded, aware of this, having covered Filius' last class to allow Poppy to indulge in her Baby-gazing "well, she performed a diagnostic on them and, assuming you understand what this means, Anya has the magical core of a five year old, and Harry an eleven year old. Lily was more shocked than I've ever seen her and Poppy was downright catatonic for a minute, and when she checked for a twin bond she says it felt like soul magic, they er, they want you to come through" he finished hurriedly.

In the time it had taken the young man to finish his explanation, Albus' truly brilliant mind had processed the important information, coming to three conclusions; first, that Poppy was in over her head, a rare thing which warranted immediate action. Second, that the twins may need immediate magical aid. And third, that he needn't bother going to St mungo's tomorrow to check for viable subjects of the recently given prophecy, he had found him, or them rather.

"Move back, I'll be right through" he instructed Remus.

After a brief but nauseating trip through the floo, the Headmaster gracefully stepped out of the flames. Having never seen the Potter's home he spared a quick glance around the cottage, a humble, bright, open and friendly place, home to two of the most powerful people of their generation, the Lord Potter, a rising politician firmly devoted to equality and the advancement of the magical world, and Madam Potter, the most talented Charms _and _Potions Mistress to come through Hogwarts in decades, and rapidly rising trainee Healer. He approved of their taste, smiling at the feel of their clearly loving home.

"Er... Headmaster?" Remus prodded gently, seeing Albus pause and smile serenely.

"Oh yes, quite right, forgive me, the mind tends to wander in one's old age" He chuckled, moving to climb the stairs, approaching the highest concentration of magic in the building.

Upon entering the room marked 'nursery' Albus walked in on Sirius Black quietly demanding answers from his staff Healer, the previously ecstatic parents standing away, seemingly subdued and holding each other.

"Well explain it to me" Sirius mutedly begged of the still overwhelmed Matron "is this a good thing or a bad thing? Are they in danger?"

"Calm yourself Sirius" Albus advised gently" berating Poppy helps nothing" he approached the crib they were gathered around, looking in, he couldn't help but smile at the gorgeous, sleeping infants. Upon noticing his and Remus' arrival, the rooms occupants brightened considerably, though no one said anything, preferring to let Albus draw his own conclusions.

Closing his eyes briefly, Albus utilized his Mage Sight, he found the situation much as Remus described it "remarkable... Not only are their cores astonishingly large, they're outstandingly stable" he commented to his captive audience "why, Harry here could start his Hogwarts career right now had he the mental capacity. Speaking of which..." he continued, reaching in, and trying not to disturb them, placing a hand on each of their soft, fuzzy heads, he employed a very light form of legilimency, specifically designed to feel out the mental health of newborns.

"My goodness..." he laughed elatedly "they're both very advanced mentally, Anya in particular, I'd expect them talking in less than a year, reading within two" he tried to press slightly deeper, having heard of the occasional 'genius-baby' in the muggle world, and curious to learn more. After a few moments he stopped, sensing a force behind their subconscious minds slowly welling up and pressing against his own mental presence. Being the curious, scientific (**magic i know, but i'd like to see you describe an experimental researcher differently**) minded person that he was, he didn't fight against this new force, neither did he retreat from it, he simply waited, allowing it to build, and slowly force him out of their minds. Truly astounded, Albus tried to re-breach their minds, only to find a pair of _impenetrable occlumency barriers_ blocking him "good lord..." he gasped at the repelling.

After several moments of silence, Lily cracked "What is it Headmaster?" she asked desperately "are they going to be okay?"

"Ohh yes my dear Lily" he pulled away from the sleeping twins, facing his audience " are you all familiar with the concepts of occlumency and legilimency?" upon receiving affirmatives he continued "what I just did is a form of legilimency designed to check the mental health of infant children, and their subconscious minds responded by erecting formidable occlumency barriers" he chuckled, truly astounded by this development.

"okay, so they're _really_ clever" Sirius said dryly "how about checking out the twin bond?" he advised, almost making Albus blush over how easily he was distracted over such things.

"Ah, yes" He turned, reactivating his mage sight, and waving his wand over them, causing an illusion representing their souls to appear over the image of their cores "Oh... Ohh... _Outstanding_..." he chuckled mirthfully.

"Oh Albus really!" Poppy spat out, her impatience winning out "spit it out already!"

"Oh, my apologies" He began, still giggling unbecomingly "but I do so enjoy discovering new magical phenomena"

"What? Magical phenomena?" Remus queried confusedly, his first word since escorting Albus upstairs.

"Oh yes" He started excitedly, looking like an obese child in a candy store "you see, upon analyzing their souls, I've found that they do indeed share a soul bond. A soul bond so powerful that it almost apears that they share one, double sized soul" He concluded, receiving the confused and intrigued expressions he so loved to see.

"what the fu-oof!" James began, only to receive an elbow to the ribs, courtesy of his wife.

"Watch your language around the children" she warned him sternly, before turning to the Headmaster "What exactly does that mean Professor?" she asked the somewhat eccentric older man.

"Well I'm not really sure" he admitted, turning back to re-examine his findings "however I would wager the deepest of emotional bonds, possibly telepathy, empathy and completely hypothetically, that if one died, as would the other" he theorized.

"Whoa" Sirius aptly put it.

it was at this moment that Anya began to stir in distress, and Harry's striking emerald eyes snapped open in an unnerving fashion. Soon after, Anya was crying at the top of her tiny lungs, and Harry didn't look too pleased either. Albus nearly laughed at the panicked expressions on the Potter's faces, Sirius and Remus not appearing much better, their Saviour came in the form of a highly experienced Madam Pomfrey.

"That's a feeding cry" she called out over the baby's wails "she's hungry"

Still looking highly alarmed, James quickly summoned two fresh milk bottles, fumbling them hilariously -at this point Albus actually did laugh- before applying a hasty quick-warming charm, only to have the bottles snatched away by an excited Lily Potter, who had never fed them before.

But as she approached, yet another remarkable thing took place, as she bent over the crib she saw Harry's eyes zero in on the first bottle, and before she could comprehend this rather un-baby-like behavior, the bottle in question zoomed out of her hand into the unnervingly angry-looking Baby's chubby little fist. Harry then proceeded to shock and awe his captive audience by propping the bottle against his arm, clumsily holding the teat to his sisters hungry mouth, which immediately latched on.

Utter silence. No one knew what to make of this surprising new development, even Albus was stunned speechless. Lily's eyes slowly grew moist, she looked heartbroken, she cautiously tried again, noting the now passive and curious expression on her son's chubby face, a far cry from the unnatural anger of only moments ago. As she was reassured that her infant son didn't hate her, she gently held the bottle to his lips. Despite his complete lack of expressed hunger or discomfort, he eagerly accepted the milk bottle, suckling away happily, and making no attempt to take the bottle from her, seemingly content to be fed rather than feed himself as he was most likely capable. Lily's heartbroken expression morphed into one of absolute joy, feeding her firstborn son for the first time.

**********H&A**********

After the twins had been fed, changed and put back to bed, Lily decided she was in a good mood, and thus threw together a meal to rival the Hogwarts House Elves for their guests, and they all stayed long into the night, talking and laughing uproariously, Lily particularly enjoying the chance to have a casual, social encounter with Albus. And during this time they all heard Anya begin another good cry, only to witness a single prepared bottle zoom off it's shelf in the kitchen straight up the stairs, followed closely by a joyous Lily with another bottle.

Remus was the first to call it a night, begging of for his work as a security guard in a local shopping centre fresh in the morning. Poppy followed his example shorty after, claiming the need to prepare for next day's doubtlessly numerous patients. Sirius would have stayed all night, but Lily threw him out at midnight, sensing that the Headmaster wanted to speak with them privately.

After Sirius was exiled, the Potter's made themselves comfortable snuggled into the sofa together, patiently waiting for Albus to bring up the topic he obviously wanted to talk about. This patience lasted about ten minutes through Albus' seemingly unending supply of small-talk.

"Oh for Merlin's sake Professor!" Lily snapped, out of patience "spit it out already! You've obviously been dying to talk to us since you got here" she finished exasperatedly.

Albus chuckled at the scolding "well first of all, if you can see through me so easily, and tell me off so thoroughly, then you deserve to call me Albus"

Lily had the good grace to blush slightly "sorry... Albus" she forced out.

"What is it though? James asked concernedly "the twins _are_ Fine right?"

"Oh yes, rest assured that so far as I can tell, they're perfectly healthy, and will remain so" He responded kindly.

"Well... What is it then?" Lily inquired nervously.

Albus sighed tiredly, feeling every one of his one hundred and thirty nine years. James and Lily shared an anxious look over his sudden change in demeanor.

"As you might be aware, as recently as three weeks ago, I carried out an interview with a potential candidate for the vacant position of Divination teacher at Hogwarts. One Sybil Trelawney to be be precise...

**Dun dun DUN! Well, this is my first posting of fanfiction ever. I'd like to hear you're thoughts on it, criticisms are welcome but if you're just in an insulting mood, take it else where.  
>I am sorry to admit that this will be the last you see of James and Lily, I know, you hate me, but I wanted to get on with it.<br>Just to clarify, this is a SlightlyDark/Slytherin/Super-ish?Harry Fic, Dumbles ain't Evil, Draco's a prick and Snape... I'm undecided, and you're votes on the matter may sway me, There will be Ron Bashing, I know how much you guys (and gals) love that ;)  
>Oh and yes... it's disgusting I know but this is an incest fic, nothing graphic, but I need it for the World Vs Potter Twins Theme, sorry if it offends.<strong>

**REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2: Only Each Other

Disclaimer: JKR's... I know... why won't she share?... *Sobs*

"speech" '_thought_' **"parseltongue"** (clarifications) **(Author' Notes)**

**Author's note: just a reminder, anyone who read this before june 2011 should know it has been re-drafted, enjoy**

Chapter 2

Only Each Other

It was with a heavy heart that Albus Dumbledore approached Number four Privet Drive, in Little Whinging, Surrey. Albus strode determinedly towards his destination, struggling internally over the choice he was making. Albus' heart was so torn because just the previous night, two bright young people with the whole world ahead of them had died, Betrayed to their enemy by one whom they had entrusted not only their own lives, but the lives of their year old twins, Harry and Anya. And so their enemy, Lord Voldemort, had come for them, intent on wiping out all hope against his terror by killing two infant children, and viable subjects for his prophesied conquerors. and he had rained horror upon the Potter family, striking in the dead of the night, breaking the Fidelius Charm protecting their home with the aid of the spell's Secret Keeper, and he had murdered James Potter in cold blood as he attempted to give his family time by holding the Dark Lord off. And he had not stopped there, ascending to the nursery, where Lily Potter had fearlessly given her life, that her heirs might live.

And they did live, Lily Potter had done the impossible, somehow creating a shield to protect the infants from the _Avada Kedavra_, and even more, the shield had not only stopped the curse, but had repelled it back upon the caster, utterly destroying the Dark Lord's physical form, forcing him to flee as less than a common ghost.

Albus strode quickly down Privet Drive, using his deluminator to extinguish the street light with a few absent clicks, settling into the dark quiet to await the arrival of one of his most loyal friends, his tall, brightly clothed form blending into the shadows better than one would think. He had only been settled for a few moments before he felt eyes upon him, reaching out with his senses, he recognized the feel of another faithful friend. Turning in her direction he spoke "I should have known that you would be here, Minerva" he addressed her softly, knowing that her currently hyper-sensitive hearing could decipher his statement with ease.

Out of an alleyway, prowled a seemingly ordinary, common house cat, and Dumbledore showed no surprise, at it's sudden appearance, or the swift transformation the feline undertook, shifting smoothly from a cat, into his Transfiguration professor.

"Good evening Headmaster" she greeted him almost coldly, she too had been close to the Potters after all, she too was grieving "you do realize that I've been here all day don't you?" she grumped, irritated at having had to wait so long. The feline animagus moved to stand by Dumbledore.

"Well, you shall be pleased to learn that we should not have to wait for much longer my dear" Albus explained to the bad tempered Scot "Hagrid is bringing them, he will be here before long"

Minerva quirked a brow at the mention of Hagrid, though she considered the gentle half-giant a friend, he was not the fastest spell to leave the wand "you think it... _Wise_ to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"

"Ah, my dear professor" Albus smilingly started "I would trust Hagrid with my life"

Minerva was going to continue, but it was at this moment she became aware of a roaring sound in the distance. Looking to Albus, she saw his eyes fixed on a single white light in the sky, which was rapidly growing larger, high in the air, accompanied by that strange mechanical sounding roar. McGonagal grabbed hold of Dumbledore's arm in alarm when this... _Creature _began to fall, right towards Privet Drive "Albus?" she questioned, to which he merely waved his wand, raising a powerful muggle-repelling ward, causing all still active muggles to subconsciously avoid approaching their windows. Realizing that the Headmaster was expecting this _thing, _Minerva allowed herself to relax, and it was only as the object neared the floor that Minerva recognized the now deafening sound for what it was, a motorcycle engine. She could only gape in astonishment as a truly giant motorbike carrying a larger man screeched to an abrupt halt yards before her.

"Hagrid?" she blurted out, outraged with his method of arrival.

Rubeus Hagrid stood slowly from the muggle contraption "good evenin' P'fessor McGonagal, P'fessor Dumbledore sir" the hairy colossus greeted in his thick accent as he approached in two massive steps, it was then that the woman noticed the makeshift baby-basket, tied surprisingly securely around Hagrid's chest. Minerva lost her stoic poise for a brief instant, as she realized that in that small basket, were the two newly orphaned babes.

"Hagrid, may I-" she began, only to be shushed quickly by the Hogwarts Grounds keeper, not something she was used to, Albus also raised a slightly surprised eyebrow at Hagrid's silencing of the intimidating Transfiguration professor.

"they're sleeping" he told her apologetically "bless 'em, fell asleep righ' as we were flyin' over Bristol" he looked lovingly into the basket/sling that the others were not tall enough to see into.

"I believe that Minerva merely wishes to see them, Hagrid my friend" Albus informed him, also wishing to see the children he had placed himself in charge of.

"Oh! o' course, Sorry P'fessors" Hagrid whispered hurriedly, slowly lowering himself to one knee. He was still taller than either professor, but they could see into the basket. Minerva gasped in shock, eyes watering upon seeing the poor things, sleeping peacefully, Anya looked no worse for the wear, but Harry had a nasty slash cut into his face, it began inches over his right eyebrow, before zig-zagging twice and then continuing down his face, over his eye (though Minerva thanked God that it did not seem to go deeper than his eyelid) and over the right half of both lips before ending just under his chin.

Though despite Hagrid's movement, they both slept on through the scrutiny, blissfully ignorant of what they'd lost. They lay in the blankets together, Harry, already much larger than his sister, was lying behind her, his arms wrapped around her protectively. Upon seeing the two innocent children, Albus paused, his heart breaking over what he felt he had to condemn them to. '_It's for the greater good, they cannot grow up spoiled and hated by opposite sides of our world, and they must remain safe at all costs'_ he reminded himself, shaking away his uncertainty. They all remained as they were, gazing upon the sleeping children with sorrow.

Albus sighed tiredly "come, let us do as we came to do" he solemnly told them, taking the basket from Hagrid gently. turning, he began to swiftly approach number four, the others following him dutifully.

"Albus, as you well know" Minerva began seriously "I've been watching them, I can hardly believe that that _woman _was Lily's sister, you simply can't leave them here" she beseeched him, having found Petunia Dursley distasteful at best.

"I am doing only what I must" Albus defended "Poppy is in no condition to care for two children, Lily was like a daughter to her. And you know as well as I that the Ministry would never allow Remus custody" he justified "and furthermore, here is where Lily's blood lives on, I can use the blood protection Lily placed upon her children to create nigh on invincible intent wards, none who would mean them harm will be able to find them here, even if they just happened to stumble across them in the street they would not recognize the children for who they are" he told her truthfully, though his heart ached at the withheld information, Minerva had seen the Dursley's go about their daily lives, but she did not know of the undiluted hatred they felt for anything magical. He was in truth, condemning the twins to at best, a childhood of neglect, all in the name of safety.

"But Headmaster, there are so many who would take them in, myself included" she pleaded further as they reached the Dursley's doorstep " there will not be a man, woman or child in our world who will not know their names"

"Yes" He agreed "and they are far better off growing up away from all of that, please Minerva, try to understand my decision" He crouched, gently laying the basket on the welcome mat, and casting a warming charm over them. He remained on his knees as he reached into his cloak and produced his pre-written note to the Durlseys, but as he placed the note in the basket, Harry's Eyes snapped open to stare at Albus, almost accusingly. Anya also woke, her own eyes glittering with frightening intelligence, but she only looked briefly at Dumbledore, before turning her gaze to Harry, who returned the stare with equal clarity, his face somehow softening.

Thoroughly unnerved, Albus waved his wand as he stood, as powerful as he knew they would one day be, they succumbed to his sleeping charm, drifting back into slumber. He heard Hagrid sniffling loudly, with Minerva nearly as upset "there, there my friends, it is not_ really_ goodbye after all"

Albus turned back, to take one last glance upon the one day saviors of the light, and shed a single tear, before he and his companions left, not to see the Potter twins for ten years.

**********H&A**********

Anya Potter lay with her beloved brother in the dead of the night, contemplating her life. An impressive feat for a nine year old. Her thoughts had always been mature far beyond her years, as had her brother's. and as she lay cuddled into her brother for warmth on their pitiful little cot under the stairs, the days events came to her in a flash.

The day had been a fairly brilliant day compared to all their others, they had been woken at seven in the morning by their horse-faced and shrieking aunt demanding that they 'get their lazy, good for nothing selves up and earn their keep'. This was nothing knew, for as long as she could remember, they had been expected to perform a ridiculous amount of chores before being allowed to eat whatever the walrus-like Vernon and pig-like Dudley didn't hoover up, though recently Petunia had forced them to start cooking breakfast, making use of stools so they could reach the cooker. Though if Anya were honest with herself, Harry had done most of the work, as he always did, she had long ago accepted that he would do anything in his power to lessen her burdens, even if it meant taking them onto himself.

After they had finished preparing the massive meal, they had been forced to sit and watch the Dursleys eat, waiting until they had finished before being allowed to help themselves to the left overs. Once they had eaten, they were sent outside to do gardening before school, pulling weeds and such, Harry had of course not allowed her to do so, lest she prick herself on a thorn, instead rushing through the work himself, seemingly unaware when he himself came afoul of such thorns.

As they left for school in their filthy second-hand clothes with their obese cousin, Harry had utilized a new trick to heal the scratches from the prickly plants, he had nearly collapsed in exhaustion afterwards, but they had both been ecstatic, yet another strange talent Harry could use. She did not know when they had first realized Harry had such Powers, though he had spent most of his life working on them, seemingly becoming stronger with time and practice. He said he could feel _something _inside him, and after much encouragement and advice, Anya too had learned to feel it, an indescribable well of _Power _within her very being.

The first time she could remember him doing something unusual had been when they were four. They had been in pre-school, and Dudley had stolen both their milk cartons after gulping down his own, Harry had been as furious as a four year old could be, and he had simply held out his hands, and both cartons had shot out of Dudley's stubby little hands and into Harry's own. Harry had gotten quite the the tongue lashing for that one, the usual Dursley-response to anything remotely 'abnormal'. She also remembered the time Vernon had seemingly had a horrible day or something, and had struck Anya across the face hard enough to knock her on her little arse, but the response from Harry: a shove from a seven year old that would not normally have budged a man of Vernon's considerable weight, had been strong enough the send him hurtling arse over tea-kettle across the room, needless to say, no Dursley would dare raise a hand to either of them now.

their punishment for this 'unwarranted assault' was to keep him from school for a month to work like a slave in the seventeen hundreds, telling the school he was ill. She had felt so lonely at school without him, with Dudley hitting anyone who was friendly to her. Her loneliness had not lasted too long, eradicated by the emergance of another mysterious Power, though she acknowledged that this one was as much hers as his. She began to hear Harry's voice in her head, complaining over the chores he had to do at number four and bemoaning how he missed her, Anya had quickly realized that this was not her imagination, and opened conversation in her head with the voice, much to it's shock. It had turned out that they had somehow learned to talk to each other in their heads, regardless of distance. She had later learned that gifts such as these were known as as things like telekinesis and telepathy, supposedly science-fiction abilities. And they had always been able to sense the others feelings, which Harry had found out was called empathy. The strangest ability Harry had, had resulted from Petunias attempt to remove his birds nest of hair almost a year ago, resulting in an absolutely hideous mess of uneven hair, Harry had hated it, _'so had I come to think of it' _she thought to herself, but Harry had loathed it, going to sleep in a huff. But the next morning, His hair had been restored, completely grown back, as shaggy as ever. Of course Harry had received another verbal beating for being 'a freak'.

Anya had wondered if he could possibly learn to control this new Power, and had encouraged him to try, and with some practice he had indeed harnessed not only the ability to control his hair length, but all of his softer features, even his scars, though he told Anya that the Scar on his face couldn't really be gone, he could still_ feel_ it, almost alive within his very mind.

But regardless, they had gone to school despite of Harry's exhaustion, not particularly wanting to return to number four. They loved school, Harry because it got them away from number four, and Anya because she was damn good at it too, though Harry was no less knowledgeable, appearing to know everything Anya had learned. The first few hours had passed swiftly, and too soon for their liking, it had been the lunch hour, and all the children had been ushered out into the yard. They had done as they always did, wandering the yard, trying to avoid Dudley, Harry had proved more than a match for Dudley in the past, so the fat bully had sought out others, six other boys plus Dudley now spent all lunch terrorizing all the other kids, always seeking them out in particular, doing their best to beat Harry to a pulp, Dudley would have struck at Anya too but for two reasons, partly because his 'friends' had actually had decent parents and 'don't hit girls' had at least been slightly emphasized, but mostly because Dudley knew that when it was Anya being physically abused Harry would go absolutely ape-shit, and no amount of backup could help him then, given that Harry was a good foot taller than anyone else in their year group.

Today Dudley's gang had found them, and they had run as always, but eventually they had been cornered. Harry had been angry, they had been shouting things at Anya this time, he had grabbed Anya to himself and... _Moved them. _Anya had closed her eyes when Harry had hugged her, taking comfort from his embrace, when she had suddenly felt as though she was being squeezed through a thin rubber tube and suddenly found herself on the school roof with an unconscious Harry. He had somehow teleported them away, completely exhausting himself... And leaving his shoes behind. When he had awoken a half hour later, they had agreed that this merited further experimentation and climbed down just in time for class. Luckily no one had actually seen them vanish, so Harry had avoided another Vernon-yelling.

The rest of the day had been fairly nondescript, they had gone back to number four (neither would ever consider it home) and had another weeks worth of chores to work through, Harry earning a an indignant shriek from Petunia for not being fast enough, before they were sent to their cupboard, some four hours ago, neither had ever needed as much sleep as was normal for their age.

climbing out of her ruminations, and propping her chin on his chest, Anya looked up into Harry's wide awake eyes _'Harry, I'm hungry' _She told him across their mental link.

His brows creased in mild concern _'Oh shit, you haven't eaten since breakfast, why didn't you say anything?' _he asked hurriedly reaching to place his hand on the cupboard door, to unlock it with his Powers.

Grabbing his hand to stop him unlocking the door without hearing her out, _'wait, first of all, you haven't eaten either and you never said anything. And secondly, do you think you're up to trying that teleporting thing again?' _She queried scientifically, rubbing a hand soothingly on his other arm.

An excited grin broke out on his face, then closing his eyes, he concentrated, only to come up empty, looking back to his sister he spoke disappointedly _'nothing, I don't even know how I did it in the first place'._

_'Well, maybe it's like with your telekineses, you remember how you had to be upset or really need it for it to work at first' _She advised him logically _'try and think about how we **need** food'_

_'Okay' _he complied_, _closing his eyes again and focusing on how he hated his sister missing out on food, and how she needed to eat to stay healthy. As he thought, he was reminded of the time when the Dursleys had starved them for days, and Anya had become terribly ill. As soon as the thought crossed his mind he felt himself squeezed through that tube again, Opening his eyes he found himself on the floor outside the cupboard door, and only mildly tired. Grinning ear-to-ear Harry rushed to open the door from the outside_, _as soon as he opened it he had his arms full of ecstatic nine year old girl.

Anya was a small girl, with long raven locks and almost glowing emerald eyes, she had pale but healthy looking skin and delicate feminine features, had she known anyone who knew their parents, they'd have told her she looked remarkably like her mother, but would grow to be even more beautiful than she had been in life.

Harry shared a host of her Physical characteristics, though they differed in various ways, his eyes were almost identical to his sister's, shining with determination as opposed to her wild intellect, and he kept his also ink-black hair incredibly short, less than an inch long, he too was unusually pale, but far taller, appearing closer to eleven or twelve than nine, and Harry also looked remarkably like one of his parents, his father in this case, who had been widely thought of as one of the most handsome men of his generation. Harry's most striking feature was the Scar that ran vertically from just below his hairline to just beneath his chin.

_'Fantastic!' _Anya mentally raved, grinning just as wide as Harry _'can you imagine the things we could use this for? and you're not that tired, so distance appears to factor into it as much as concentration' _she finished analytically.

Chuckling in both mirth and excitement, Harry hugged her back _'yes, yes, we'll be unstoppable, but weren't you hungry?'_ he asked, already leading her to the kitchen, after locking the cupboard door.

**********H&A**********

_'Ah, the joys of a full stomach' _Harry thought contently after finishing his half of the sandwich he'd made.

Anya giggled mentally and literally _'oh yes, and now we'll be able to do this every night without having to worry about getting caught' _they had experimented with Harry's newfound ability, and discovered that so long as as he didn't try to go too far, he could 'pop' around as much as he liked, though he found it far easier to move merely himself as opposed to the both of them, and he was determined to teach Anya this strange Power too, though she remained skeptical.

Harry seeing that his sister was in a good mood, decided to broach a topic he'd been thinking on for a while '_Anya?... I think... I think we should leave.'_

'_leave?' _Anya asked '_as in, run away?... Harry... I'm not sure, I mean... how would we live? We'd get caught, and you know what would happen then don't you?' _she reasoned, fearing the life of an orphanage if the police caught up with them, they both knew the Dursleys would never get away with their crimes after close scrutiny.

'_No, that's it, we wouldn't' _he countered '_with this new thing, no-one could catch us, and you know as well as I do that we wouldn't struggle for food, we could just steal what we needed with our Powers, almost anything would be better than here!... Please Anya... I... We can't stay here, I won't risk you any more, all it takes is for Vernon to lose his temper once when i'm not looking, and then... We could be taken from each other... I couldn't live without you sis...' _He pleaded with her, seeing her begin to consider his words.

Anya paused, she tried to consider him. He made good points, they could steal anything they needed with almost no fear of consequence_, _they could live almost anywhere they chose, locked doors would hold no challenge for them, her only counter argument would be their education, should they leave, their formal education would cease, though she knew they could learn anything they needed from books and the Internet. If she was honest, she was sold when he alluded to the possibility of Vernon snapping and truly hurting one of them, she knew that she also could not go on without her beloved brother, her protector, her companion. And so, having considered his request, she made her decision, changing both of their lives forever.

'_... Okay...'_

**********H&A**********

Hundreds of miles away, in an Ancient Scottish Castle, Albus Dumbledore was sleeping peacefully, courtesy of his weekly Dreamless sleeping potion, and so was unaware of one of his various, seemingly pointless knick-knacks letting out a keening whine before falling silent, slowly ceasing it's constant spinning until it sat motionless in the old Headmaster's office.

The wards of Privet Drive had fallen.

**review people!**


	3. Chapter 3: Disappearing Act

Disclaimer: yeah yeah, it ain't mine, it's JKR's yada yada yada...

A.N: "speech" '_thought_' (simple bracketed drivel) **"parseltongue"**

**Chapter 3:**

Disappearing Act

Remus Lupin paced anxiously in Albus Dumbledore's crowded office, surrounded by felow members of the Order of the Phoenix. Just shy of thirty poeple were cramped into the headmaster's office at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. More than half the school's professors were in attendance, along with several other notable figures, ranging from Mundungus Fletcher, a known thief and petty criminal, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, a well feared and respected Auror, Alastor Moody, the retired but notorious ex-Auror and other such individuals milled about, conversing tensly among themselves. Abus had called a meeting, which, since the Dark forces were more or less on sabbatical could mean only one thing: something had happened with the twins.

Remus kicked himself for allowing himself to become so disconnected with reality, just over eight years ago, tragedy had struck at almost all those whom had ever seen him for who he was and not the beast he carried within his soul. Three of his best friends had been murdered, one at the hands of the last, Sirius Black, the only one still alive, rotting in Azkaban where he belonged. Yet Remus hated himself, he had allowed his grief to consume him, falling into depression and all but abandoning his duty to his surragate niece and nephew, the twin children of two of his friends, Lily and James Potter.

And now he paced in Dumbledore's office, ignoring Hestia Jones' repeated attempts to calm him.

"Remus, will you relax!" She cried, finally losing her patience "come here!" she then proceeded to grab the scruff of his frayed and tatty robes, throw him into an empty chair and all but sit on him.

Remus wasn't at all surprised by these actions, he had known Hestia most of his life, and it was never the best kept secret how she felt about him, truth be told he loved the bones of the woman, but had sworn to himself that he would never force her to be with a werewolf. Nevertheless, he felt a need to protest.

"Hestia! get off me! I'm-"

"Remus!" the irritaded woman cut him off "I know you're anxious, but burning a line in Dumbledore's carpet won't make you feel any better, all it's accomplished is to irritate the hell out of me! so sit, be silent and wait!" Remus made to get up, but one well placed poke and evil eye made him reconsider, choosing to do as he was told instead. He paused, sighed and forced himself to relax a little.

"Sorry Hestia" he offered sheepishly "It's just... Well, what if something's wrong with the twins?" he finished in distress, Hestia was about to answer him when Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody joined the conversation from his position leaning against the wall, facing the door, ever true to his paranoid reputation.

"Shut it Lupin" growled the scarred ex-Auror "it's pointless wondering, Dumbledore'll be here any minute, just wait. If you need something to occupy yourself, there's a room full of poeple you ain't seen in years, you must have a few friends among them, start a conversation or something and stop annoying the lass perched so earnestly in your lap" getting a brilliant blush and shift in position from the aforementioned 'lass'. Moony felt decidedly unsettled to be recieving a dresing down on being wound too tight from _Mad-eye, _so decided to switch the situation around.

"You're right, I'll talk to a friend" Remus began "so Alastor, how've the last few years treated you? last I heard, you'd retired from the corp" Moody looked momentarily non-plussed to be considered someone's _friend,_ but reverted back to his grumpy form rather quickly.

"Stow it Lupin" he started angrily " if I wanted to talk I'd-"

"Oh come on now Moody, surely you wouldn't mind chatting to some friends for minute" Hestia told him sweetly "_I insist" _Moody now looked downright frightened of the diminutive woman as she conjured a chair and pushed him into it.

"Alright, alright, you've had you're fun" Moody tried to look menacing, but Remus could tell he was fighting a smile at Hestia's innocently eager expression.

Moody was saved further torture by Dumbledore's timely arrival, appearing in a brilliant flash of crimson flame, fawkes the phoenix perched elegantly upon his shoulder. The Headmaster, true to his own eccentric ideas of fashion, wore resplendant robes of eye hurting orange, with various multi-coloured animals prancing merrily across them. However one need not look too hard to recognise that something was wrong, many had said that Albus Dumbledore possessed a spry youthfulness a man his age shouldn't have, but now, he appeared every bit of his age, his posture almost slouched and defeated, and a deep, endless sorrow in his usually twinkling blue eyes.

Remus' breath caught, as well as quite a few other's, as Dumbledore slowly made his way behind his grand desk seemingly unaware of the small crowd in his office, the people parting before him like the red sea before Moses, it had been many years since any had seen this aged, frail version of the powerful old wizard, and it was never a good thing. Even Fawkes appeared fatigued and melancholy, swooping over to his perch and tucking his head beneath a wing.

Remus was on his feet now, before the Professor's desk, seeing nobody else was going to speak up, he decided to rouse Dumbledore from his musings.

"Headmaster?" he began, his own eyes widening in surprise as the Professor nearly jerked in his seat, his eyes flying to meet the Were's.

If possible, Albus appeared to age further still as his eyes and mind took in the group before him, his eyes lingering on Remus with an unenviable remorse before he seemed to gather himself, setting his jaw in determination and straightening in his squishy armchair.

"My friends" the legendary old wizard started, his very tone causing many in the room to worry "I am afraid that I have dire news, I return now from my search... for the Potter twins, who appear to have... _gone missing _several days ago." a gasp went round the room, Albus' tone and manner showing clearly that he felt no hope in the situation while Remus simply stopped moving, staring straight ahead in utter horror, the ever stoic Minerva Mcgonnagal had a hand over her mouth as tears threatened an appearance, while the Aurors' and Moody's eyes narrowed in suspicion and even anger.

Hestia hastely stepped forward as Remus swayed drunkenly, but the immense Rubeus Hagrid beat her to it, placing a steadying hand on his shoulder, making no effort to hide the bullet-sized tears that fell down into his beard. All the while Severus Snape skulked in the corner appearing his usual sneering, miserable self.

"Bah!" he snorted derisively "senseless little brats, only gone and got themselves found or killed in some childish game" he turned to stalk from the room, missing the sudden outrage of almost all those present, in particular the amber flash in Remus Lupin's eyes as he turned toward him, looking ready to murder the heartless bastard with his bare hands, but again, Hagrid was faster and in two great strides had crossed the Headmaster's office, seized Severus around the throat with one hand and slammed him into the wall, shaking the shelves and mantles with the impact.

Severus Snape found himself eye to eye with an enraged half-giant, his feet a metre of the ground, and while few had ever found the mammoth man the slightest bit intimidating, fewer still had ever seen him angry.

"One more word!" the truly gargantuan man roared "one more word from ya, an' I'll crush yer Ruddy head ya snivillin li'l maggot!" Snape's eyes appeared ready to pop out of his head, his face rapidly purpling as he sputtered and choked under Hagrid's powerful grip.

"Rubeus" Albus softly reprimanded, regaining some more of his lost composure "while Severus may never be the most compassionate man, I would rather you not strangle my potions professor" he had stood gently from his seat, not appearing at all threatening, but commanding all the same. Hagrid glanced back at his employer, seemingly torn, before he seemed to come to a decision.

Severus Snape colapsed in a gasping pile at Hagrid's feet, but before he could begin to regain his sneer, he was again bodily lifted, by the scruff of his neck this time, he reached up, scrambling to relieve Hagrids grip, he barely heard the door open, but he was well aware when he was hurled down the Headmaster's spiral staircase to land in a crumpled, bruised heap at the base of the Gargoyle.

Hagrid calmly closed the door and turned back to the Headmaster, not the least bit repentant, meanwhile Albus, while not really approving seemed to accept that had Remus got there first he might have needed a new Potions professor, hell Moody looked utterly infuriated too, perhaps he should count his blessings.

Deciding that that was indeed the best he could have hoped for after Severus's comment, Albus decided to quickly move on.

"Poppy, would you please see to Severus?" He asked his resident staff healer, who just so happened to be a good friend and additional member of the Order. At her rebellious look, he quickly continued "I assure you that I shall brief you on all that you miss from this meeting" thankfully, despite her personal reluctance, as she had grown exceptionally fond of the twins in the short year before Voldemort's banishment, her professional side won out, and she left to deal with the truthfully tactless potions Master, likely dragging him to the hospital wing by his ears.

Albus sighed as he turned his attention back to the resident Were in the Order, at seeing the utter despair and rage swirling in Remus' amber eyes, he cringed, momenteraly shrinking back from his penetrating gaze, well aware that had Remus not known that Albus was just as anguished, he likely would have been forced to defend himself from an irate lycanthrope.

Remus spoke only two words, summoning up the entire Orders opinions'.

"What. Happened?"

Albus knew that no half-truths or even lies could resolve this, though he really had no desire to do so for a change, had he trusted more people with his plans for the children, they likely wouldn't be in the current situation.

"At this moment" he began, again sinking tiredly into his squishy chair "I am unsure. I never told many of you where I placed the twins, and why I chose not to have raised by a notable light-sided family, and those whom I did inform heartily disagreed with me" here he threw a glance at both Minerva and Hagrid "for reasons too complicated to adequately explain, the manner in which their mother died, or perhaps even an obscure ritual performed prior to Voldemort's-" he paused to wait for the collective shrieks, gasps and flinches to subside "-arrival, she placed a form of protection upon her children that I knew I could not replicate or surpass, and it was using this protection that I managed to create nigh on impenetrable Blood wards around the Twins' new residense, however, for these wards to function, the Twins had to be in close proximity to someone of their Mother's blood" Remus paled in horrified realization "and thus, I left them at number four, Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey, in the care of their Biological aunt, Petunia Dursley and her family."

Remus colapsed into his seat, wracked with silent sobs, having met that hateful woman at the Potters' wedding, and only able to imagine an upbringing in her care, Hestia rushed to comfort him, though unsure of why he suddenly needed it, while Hagrid and Mad-eye, both having met the vile woman at the same venue dropped a hand on either shoulder in silent support.

"I was unaware" Albus continued, forcing his eyes off of Remus' broken figure "of the level of animosity that existed between Lily and her sister, and the sheer amount of petty envy and hate that Petunia held for her, or her husbands own cruel tendancies." Albus decided to put forth the whole truth as it was "after using legilimency upon Petunia, I discovered just what their life was truly like. The Twins never felt any love in that household, the Dursley family treating them how many would expect a darker family to treat a house-elf, as virtual slaves, though I take great thanks in that the Dursleys never resorted to physical abuse, the twins suffered criminal neglect and and mistreatment at the hands of the Dursleys"

As people around the room began paling in the wake of the information, Albus forged on, hoping to build back some support and trust from his friends and aquaintances "I did not of course leave them unmonitered, I asked a aquaintance some of you have met to move into the area and keep an eye on the children, a very friendly and jovial squib by the name of Arabella Figg." people began to nod in acceptance of that, many having known Arabella to be a fine woman, and Minerva's glare changed to a look of confusion, wondering how Arabella could have missed the signs.

"However, I again am to blame for my own mistakes" the Headmaster carried on "it seems that even before I approached her, Arabella was suffering from a severe muggle, mental condition of some noteriety, known as Alzheimer's Disease."

Several people gasped at this revelation, and Albus won back consideral support from his Order, they accepted that while he could have monitered their wellbeing better, he had taken steps to ensure their safety, and he could not realistically have been expected to have predicted a squib's fall to a mental illness.

"Moving on to more recent happenings" Albus drove on, taking strength from their understanding, and rising from his chair to a more authoritive position stood tall, at the head of the room "I returned from a trip to a convention of the ICW last night, to discover that the wards at number four, Privet Drive had not _fallen, _but simply ceased to exist, sometime earlier this week."

Remus spoke up at this point.

"Having met that... _despicable_ woman, I will flat out tell you Headmaster that I will never forgive you. And I think I can safely say that when you pass on, you'll have to deal with an enraged Lily Potter." Remus' stare had many of those around him leaning back from him, but Albus met his eyes squarely and merely nodded, accepting the Werewolf blame and all of the responsibility.

"But" Moony continued "we need to work together to find them. So, what leads do you have? What do we do now?" Albus agan failed to meet the gazes of those around him, looking down at his desk as he composed his reply.

"I am afraid that... I have no real leads, I arrived at the house to find Petunia in the midst of cleaning out the cupboard that served as the Twins' _room,_ a considerable amount of blood had been spilled within, nearly three pints worth, which as many of you can guess, is a massive amount, particularly in a child, it is in fact a dangerous amount to lose, and after closer inspection, I determined that _All _of that belonged to Harry, So time may be of the essence, as Harry may be in a critical condition, I am unaware of how Harry came to be injured or Anya's condition" many of those present looked ill at the prospect of a dead Boy Who Lived, but steeled themselves for the upcoming search effort.

Albus had finally regained his full composure, once again the commanding leader of the light made an appearance "Now, Alastor will organise the search party, I would like everyone available to see him about where to start, bear in mind that Harry cannot have gotton far in such a condition. Kingsley, I would ask you, as the most familiar with the muggle police force to see they are informed of the Dursley's crimes and procur their aid in the search, more eyes open cannot be a bad thing. Remus, might I suggest you wait untill the Dursley's ar taken into custody before you attempt to find a scent sample from the house, it would not do for you to be arrested by the Aurors or police, I will go now to Ministry to see them informed and attempt to aquire the aid of the on duty Aurors" as the Order geared itsef up for work, Albus alowed himself to hope, to hope that against all odds, the Twins would be found safe, and soon.

"You may of course use my floo" the Headmaster told the search party as he removed the restrictiond from his office fireplace, allowing anyone to access it "Arabella floo address is 'number six Wisteria walk', I would advise that as your arrival point" he advised as he grab his own pinch of floo powder "should they be found, I ask that you send me patronus message, I will then immediately ask Fawkes to bring Poppy straight to you" he gestured to his faithfull friend, who chose to repond with a rousing chorus of song, filling the Order with hope and support with his song.

"If that is all, I bid you good luck, Ministry of Magic!"

**********H&A**********

**Two weeks later**

"Well?" asked the Extraordinarily non-descript man, he was fairly short and very skinny, with a light wispy beard, plain brown eyes and large ears. Peering down his slightly larger than normal nose, at a small girl. Looking at her, you wouldn't guess her to be far off seven, In actuality she was nearly ten, as wierdly enough, was the man. She was small for her age, with pale skin, a cute heart shaped face and focused, intelligent green eyes, until recently she had had long flowing black hair, but after much discussion, they had decided that they would rather forge false personas and histories than hide indefinately, and a different appearance would go a long way for that. After a gruelling week of effort on both of their parts, Harry had managed to teach Anya a limited from of his shapeshifting abilities, unfortunately though, she felt as if she had hit a wall with how far she could take the power, she could now consciously control the length of her hair, but none of her other features could change. Hence she was now eight year old Anna Potts, proud owner of a cute pixie-cut that actually quite suited her.

Harry, weirdly enough, was now two people, he was Henry Potts, Anna's elder brother, a tall, slim, _scarless _young boy with eyes and skin tone to match his sister's, and long, slightly curly black hair that fell to his shoulders. _AND _he wastheir father Harold, the man waiting impatiently for an answer from 'his daughter'.

"Anya?" he nudged her from her thoughts as he shrank back into his 'Henry' form.

"Sorry, well what?" she turned to him, privately deciding she liked his longer hair, and promising to make him keep it.

"What do you think?" he gestured to their surroundings.

They were currently standing in a two bedroom apartment, in one of the more rundown areas of London, the apartment was old, grubby and dark, the wallpaper yellowing and peeling in places, a large water stain covered most of the ceiling and the furniture was mouldy and motheaten.

"The place is a dump, But-" she made to continue, but Harry cut her off defensively.

"Oi, just be grateful we got the place!" He threw out exasperatedly "I thought for sure the land lord was gonna click on to the less-than-legitimate documents 'Anna'."

He strode forward, his attitude screaming triumph "Think about it, we have _our own home_, as far as anyone knows we're the Potts family moving down from Liverpool and have all the documents to prove it!" he had a wide, slanted grin on his face as he fell onto the decaying couch.

"Harry!" Anya giggled "let me finish, as I was saying, it's a dump, but we have resources to patch it up, it was cheap, easy to get and far from Privet Drive, it's perfect, well done." she joined him on the couch, throwing her jean clad legs across his own and giving him a side-ways hug, Harry blushed furiously at having been ranting for no reason.

"I have to say though, I'm more than a little apprehensive about tomorrow"

Harry agreed with a nod and a squeeze, a lot had happened this last month.

After the decision to put the Dursleys behind them, Anya had come up with the perfect gettaway plan, After experimenting with Harry's new ability to heal himself, they had discovered that Harry could heal all minor injuries in moments though it took more effort to heal Anya than himself, and he also possessed the ability to replenish his blood reserves to normal from almost dangerously low levels over night. They had spent almost a week while Anya learned her hair trick, opening semi-deep cuts on themselves, collecting the blood, storing it in jars in the spare fridge in the garage, hidden behind the umpteen packs of 'extra' bacon at the bottom, before healing completely overnight, ready to continue the next day.

Once she felt they had enough blood stored, they had acted. In the dead of the night, they had smeared the blood onto the floor, his in their cupboard, and hers in the garage. The plan was simple, nobody would look too hard for you, if they thought you were dead. Anya new someone their age, couldn't lose that much blood at once and survive, and the beauty was, the Dursleys would likely go down for murdering them, they had a real laugh over that. And they knew that the police would never be able to prove how old the blood was, because Petunia's obsessive compulsiveness would have her cleaning it up with bleach before the police ever arrived on the scene.

However they had had a harder time of it once escaped, they had stayed in a few places over the first week, abandoned houses and warehouses and the like, and while they hadn't had trouble feeding themselves, Harry after all was the perfect thief, able to alter his on appearance and disappear and reappear somewhere else at will. They had no way to sustain themselves in any way but from day to day, sure they could probably aquire huge sums of cash with their inherent awesomeness, but they didn't really want to be thieves, and while money could buy anything, few people, even the less-than-legally employed, would sell false identities to someone who simply didn't have one to begin with.

Then, what appeared to be a miracle happened, the one day Harry forgot to be 'Henry', he had been recognised, by someone neither had ever seen no less. A man in his late twenties or early thirties had approached them in the street, introduced himself as a squib (whatever the hell that was) and asked them what their plans were, immediately suspicious and wary, the twins had bolted, unable to 'pop' away in public, but the grown man had outrun them, and trapped them in an alley, just as they were about to pop away he had shouted "Potter, WAIT!" caught completely of guard by his use of their real surname, they had paused, he had used their brief hesitation to back up and raise his hands in a none threatening manner, pleading with them to trust him, that he wanted to help them, the sincerity in his tone and face had passed their lie detector, and they had listened to what he had to say.

Mere moments into the conversation Anya had asked what in the blue fuck a squib was, he hadn't answered, seeming to suddenly understand something they didn't, before telling them that he hadn't the time to explain right then, before either could object, he had whipped out a moblie phone and taken a picture of each of them, he had then said to meet him the next day in that same alley at ten PM before promptly walking of into the crowd.

More than a little wary, they had done so, both in their Potts forms, at seeing Harry looking so different, he had been understandably confused, after they found out that he had returned with every false ID thinkable, passport, birth certificate, falsified school records the works, all with the pictures he had taken the day before on them, they had decided to trust him a little, revealing Harry'd 'morphing' ability.

Absolutely flabbergasted, he had asked if he could become an adult, Harry had demonstrated that he could. Seemingly surprised (though less than he should have been when they thought about it) he had asked Harry to take an average adult form, and then after taking a photograph of both the false Harrys, he had explained the idea of Harry becoming, Howard and Henry, and to meet him the same time the next day, for those documents.

After that, they had spent nearly two weeks searching for a suitable apartment for 'the Potts' to buy, and with their strange benefactors aid 'aquiring' a bank account in Howards' name, enough cash to make the transaction and anything and everything else they thought of.

And today, they had moved in. They had not seen their 'squib' for a few days, but he had promised to meet them that saturday 'to explain a few things', and it just so happened to be saturday tomorrow. Both kids were both excited and nervous about learning these 'things', not the least of which was how he knew them.

No more words were spoken that night, they merely sat together, basking in the others company, they fell aslep, as always, in each others arms.

**Author's note: Well? review people! oh and brownie points go to anyone who can correctly guess which blond pureblood family the Twins' mysterious saviour comes from, as a hint, he is on perfectly friendly terms with them...**


	4. AN

sorry bout the delay, I seem to have hit a block, rest assured I am working on it.


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